The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction takes the reader on a guided tour of the mean streets and blind corners that make up the world’s most popular literary genre. The insider’s book recommends over 200 classic crime novels from masterminds Raymond Chandler and Patricia Highsmith to modern hotshots James Elroy and Patricia Cornwall. You’ll investigate gumshoes, spies, spooks, serial killers, forensic females, prying priests and patsies from the past, present, and future. Complete with extra information on what to read next, all movie adaptions, and illustrated throughout with photos and diagrams …all the evidence that counts
Author(s): Barry Forshaw
Edition: 1
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 320
Contents ......Page 6
Foreword ......Page 8
Preface ......Page 10
1. Reading The Entrails: Origins, Motives, Sources ......Page 13
2. The Golden Age: Classic Mysteries ......Page 27
3. Hardboiled And Pulp: Tough Guys And Tough Talk ......Page 45
4. Private Eyes: Sleuths And Gumshoes ......Page 65
5. Cops: Police Procedurals And Mavericks ......Page 91
6. Professionals: Lawyers, Doctors, Forensics And Others ......Page 125
7. Amateurs: Journalists And Innocent Bystanders ......Page 143
8. All In The Mind: Matters Psychological ......Page 161
9. The Killer Inside Me: Serial Killers ......Page 181
10. In The Belly Of The Beast: Criminal Protagonists ......Page 197
11. Organized Crime: Wiseguys And Godfathers ......Page 213
12. Crime And Society: Class, Race And Politics ......Page 225
13. Espionage: Spies, Spooks And Supercriminals ......Page 247
14. Through The Glass Darkly: Historical Crime ......Page 269
15. Foreign Bloodshed: Crime In Translation ......Page 289
Postmortem ......Page 307
Picture Credits ......Page 310
Index ......Page 311
